The thing about Obama is that there is always less than meets the eye. He went to Copenhagen twice, each time with spinners expecting the fix was in and Obama could deliver a huge political win; but there was no game plan; there was no Chicago Olympics or global-warming deal. Obama intends to sweep away Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but not really. There is no executive order. There will be a long study and maybe, sometime, there will be congressional action. Obama had a plan for Iran: prove his bona fides by engagement, pivot to crippling sanctions, and hold military force as an option. Instead, he’s been meandering around in engagement and coming up with mini-sanctions. No cleverly devised plan after all.
Now we hear that the proposal to regulate CO2 by bureaucratic fiat is being whittled down to a mini-gambit that won’t go into effect until after 2010, when, by gosh, we’ll have a new Congress:
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pledge Monday to move slowly on the implementation of upcoming greenhouse gas rules may give cover to some Capitol Hill Democrats to vote against blocking climate rules entirely, according to lobbyists and activists.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a letter to a group of Senate Democrats on Monday that upcoming rules to limit emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities won’t take effect in 2010. She also told the eight Democrats — who mostly hail from coal-producing or coal-reliant states — that the rules will initially be narrower than EPA had planned.
On one level, this is another exercise in cynicism. You see, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has a plan to bar the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. But the Hill reports, “One environmental lobbyist said EPA’s action ‘absolutely’ gives Democrats cover to vote against [Sen. Lisa] Murkowski’s plan by providing time for work on climate legislation.” On the other hand, it’s evidence that the Obami aren’t really equipped to push through much of their radical agenda, so they must resort once again to delay, misdirection, and half-measures to avoid wigging out their base. Still, the EPA’s newest mini-gambit isn’t enough to win over some Democrats, especially those from energy-producing states:
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who led the letter to EPA from the eight Democrats, is preparing a bill that would temporarily prevent EPA rules while Congress works on a broader climate and energy bill. He praised EPA’s action but said it hasn’t changed his mind. “I am glad to see that the EPA is showing some willingness to set their timetable for regulation into the future — this is good progress, but I am concerned it may not go far enough,” Rockefeller said in a prepared statement.
The environmental lobbyists are squawking about the need to ”defend science from politics, defend our children’s future from polluters, and defend our economy from the stranglehold of special interests.” Maybe that sort of thing worked better before Climategate, record unemployment, and Obama’s ratings collapse. But now, it reinforces the chasm between Obama’s agenda and his accomplishments. It is further proof that the Obami have a lot of bark and no bite when it comes to reinventing America or putting in a New Foundation, or whatever they call it these days. That’s very good news indeed.
Huh ? “Police and soldiers are even preventing people from talking about the Games in China’s magnificent capital city.”
What kind of crap is this ? Do you really believe this ?
China’s Communist Party is cracking down on dissidents and other Chinese, but it won’t help. Once the country is filled with foreign dignitaries and reporters, the government will not dare to act, just as it didn’t act when Gorbachev was visiting in 1989.
More visitors will be in Beijing in August than ever before in human history. People will ask them questions, if only to practice their English. Curiosity is the enemy of communism. China has tried to preverve Marxism by adopting capitalism and clinging to thought control. It has worked in the short run, since Marxist capitalism is quite popular in China. Repression has worked in the short run. But in the long run, people will recognize that humans differ from each other, that they have a right to be different, and that disagreement leads to discovery.
Chinese is an optimistic language. The word for “tomorrow” (mingtian) means “bright day.” The word for “next year” (mingnian) means “bright year. Next year, mingnian, China will be free.
Hahahaha,
Yes, Westneres will ask Chinese question, but dont expect they will give the answers you will like.
Students are usually most critical of their government in any countries, didnt you see those anti-west media protests by the new geneartion of oversea chinese students ?
Does this mean Israel and China will have to stop sharing spies?
More visitors will be in Beijing in August than ever before in human history. People will ask them questions, if only to practice their English.
Have you ever been to China? When someone wants to “practice their English,” within 10 minutes you’ll be wearing a fake Rolex.
Wahaha, I do believe that Chinese police try to stop people talking about the Olympics. After all, that is hardly the worst thing they have done in connection with the Games.
George Jochnowitz, you are so correct when you write “Curiosity is the enemy of communism.”
Gordon,
This is getting funnier and funnier.
Are you saying that the chinese government lack common sense ?
Wow, a government with common sense led a economic development for 30 years.
I guess all the human being on earth are retarded.
Sorry I mean : “a government without common sense led a economic development for 30 years
John Hartland,
I most certainly have been to China. I lived there for a half year in 1984 and for a bit over 4 months in 1989. People always asked me questions, in both English and Chinese. I was asked about separation of powers. I was asked whether it’s legal for government officials in the United States to break the law, and whether it’s possible for them to do so. I tried my best to answer as accurately as possible. I was asked, in Chinese, whether Plato would consider Chairman Mao an example of the Philosopher King if he were alive today. This was a slow and difficult conversation, since my Chinese was not good enough to deal with the subject. After I finally understood the question, since I hate both Plato (the grandfather of totalitariansim) and Chairman Mao, I simply answered in the affirmative.
The people I spoke to managed to do so without anything bad happening to them while I was present. Since I have maintained some contact with people there, it seems some or all of them got away with speaking to me.
Wahaha, are you arguing that everything Beijing has done in the last three decades made sense?
Gordon,
No, I am saying that if Beijing was as stupid as you claimed, then human beings would be hopeless.
George,
Read the following, you would be surprised. ( I copy and paste the translation, I dont agree with all of them.)
http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/ChinaNews/31585469.html
This article comes from a self-described moderate who wasn’t old enough to participate in the Six Four movement. Instead, he’s one of many of his generation who is “glad” the student movement didn’t succeed. Some “old generals” of the movement might refer to him derogatorily as “young” and “immature”… but keep in mind, this man is now in his mid-30s, and has lived in the United States for 10 years. It can be argued he represents the mainstream opinion.
I went to university in 1991; I’m not an old general or a young general.
1. Even as early as 1992, my opinion was that the Six Four student movement should not have been allowed to succeed. Primarily because of a comparison against the Soviet Union.
At that time, people still held unrealistic fantasies towards the remote West. “River Elegy” really suggests to me that if Six Four had succeeded, then it would’ve been a peaceful regime change perpetrated by the United States. We would probably have had an outcome similar to the Soviet Union; Tibet and Xinjiang would be independent, and the country would likely have been divided into pieces.
The 1990s was a time of “emigration fever”, as many in China did everything they could to go overseas. (I went overseas in 1998.) Most of the people that I know personally, after they went overseas, returned with a deeper conviction that Six Four should not have been allowed to succeed.
Deng Xiaoping said it exactly right: Six Four happened because of global political winds, and also domestic political winds. The bottom line, the party and government had its internal divisions. If the movement had succeeded, there would still be “old generals” here complaining they had been used.
2. Of course, I’m not like the “little generals” who are applauding the government’s violent suppression. Of course, the best result for Six Four would be if there hadn’t been any blood shed. I don’t have any personal experience, and I can’t pretend to really understand the pain of those who lost their loved ones, of those who lost their confidence in the government.
So, I again express my deepest regrets to all those who died. I’m also in favor of everyone remembering Six Four, remembering the passion, youth, and love for good things that were on display back then.
3. The only winners out of that movement were those who didn’t want to see China strong, who didn’t want to see China develop. Domestically, it strengthened the movement towards corruption. After Six Four, society lost its conscience, and only money was glorious. A society without values will allow these corrupt forces thrive like a fish in water. Only this earthquake has helped again unite the hearts of some people.
The other winner would be American-led forces. You have to know many Americans see the end of the ’80s as being the end of the Cold War. They should realize that to the Chinese people, this was also a war. Although they might regret China didn’t split apart like the Soviet Union… but regardless, after 1989 they gained a lot in international politics.
4. Six Four really should be remembered and deeply considered every year. But if we remember alongside the dissidents, the independence seekers, and FLG… it will be an excuse for the elites in China who are opposed to a reappraisal of Six Four. So, I believe when the dissidents, the independence movements, and FLG disappear and become irrelevant… that’s when our country will allow new discussion and reconsideration of Six Four.
The following is by He Xin,
…….
I firmly believe that if China is divided, then there is only one possible outcome for decades to come: frequent civil war. And the people will, for this separatism, pay the huge price of blood being shed, lives being lost, and economy in decline. To be honest, I’m very suspicious whether this “great unity” is really a backwards concept. The theory that this hurts economic development is being fed to the Chinese people by the strategic thinkers in some developed countries. The goal? To pre-emptively provide mental weapons and rhetorical preparation for the destruction of China, for the splitting of China. That way, they can permanently seize China’s opportunity to catch up to and surpass the developed nations.
Another article of mine was published in March of 1989, still before the turmoil. In this article, I clearly predicted the subsequent collapse of communism in eastern Europe, as well as the disintegration of the Soviet Union. I want to warn everyone: the 1990s is not an era for dreaming, but rather an era filled with immense new dangers, difficulties, and challenges. I pointed out an alarming problem: “China’s modernization conflicts with the strategic interests of the United States, Japan, and other development countries.” At the time I felt a need to warn everyone, there are numerous signs indicating that allowing China to sink into internal chaos, might be just the kind of thing that some countries wanting to dominate the world hoped to see. In these countries, the most deserving of attention is the US and Japan. I said that if we seriously consider the US and Japan’s policies towards China on politics, economics, technology, and culture, then we can deeply recognize that their anti-China strategy is deeply considered and long reaching. In their eyes, the Chinese remain an inferior people, and Chinese culture remains a weak culture. And the time we’ve spent reconsidering our culture in recent years is only giving them another reason to look down upon us. Psychologically and politically, we’re destroying ourselves!
…..
_____________________________
Now, you should know how chinese think. Whether you and Gordon like it or not, you two have absolutely no idea what is going on in China NOW.
I am reasonably sure that George H. W. Bush—Lao Bush—wanted Beijing Spring to fail, as it did on June 4. He never said the slightest syllable before the Tiananmen Massacre about a peaceful solution. He never said the slightest syllable after it happened condemning it.
I believe that Lao Bush, like Eisenhower, feared democracy everywhere in the world except in America and Western Europe.
Many young Chinese people nowadays, in China and everywhere in the world, say they are happy that Beijing Spring failed. They have accepted the idea of Marxist capitalism, the idea that money is the most important thing in the world and that free speech and free thought automatically lead to instability and thus are a threat to making money. They are wrong. Democracies do not fight wars against other democracies. Democracies, with their built-in means for changing governments, are inherently stable. And most of all, democracies are humane.
Ok, George,
It sounds ridiculous to me that Lao Bush doesnt want democracy in China, but I wont argue with you about that.
Now about “democracies are humane”, can you name a country, with at least 10% of people living in proverty, practiced democracy successfully ? “successfully” means “deliver a better life financially”.
People in West have no idea what kind of misery people suffer in proverty.
Do you know how hard it is working 8 + hours a day and making only $3 ? What is their priority, human right ? or their stomach ? They are living like animals that they have to worry where to get their meals tomorrow.
Do you know how hard it is working 8 + hours a day and making only $20? Now with $20, a chinese doesnt have to worry about his foods, but he cant afford 14 days trip, he cant afford buying a house , and he will struggle to afford a decent education of his kid.
What do they care most ? If you make only $25,000 a year in America, do you care FBI mistreat those criminals in jail ? YOU SIMPLY DONT HAVE TIME THINKING ABOUT THOSE THINGS.
Please dont talk like you are morally superior, the # 1 human right is that everyone is entitled to enjoy a decent life.
Now in USA. with so many poor people in USA, we already see the problems caused by west democracy, a democracy puts individual’s right above the interests of public. You dont believe ?
Super high medication fees, why ? cuz of insurance fee. why insurance fee so high ? cuz doctors and hospitals are afraid of lawsuits asking for skyhigh compensation.
Lot of cities in United cities were bankrupted or in deficit, what are to blamed ? Those Unions played a big role.
You hardly hear anything about New Orlean. what happened to those who lost their house ? what is government’s plan of rebuilding that area ? but at same time, do you know some katrina victims sued US government for 3 TRILLION dollars ?
Gas price, did you ever think why your media never put pressure on the oil companies, like china’s media put huge pressure on riches ?
Humanity has good side, but also has its dark side. Your democracy gives the right to people who deserve it, but it also gives the right to people who are greedy and who has no respect to the right and interests of majority. That is why it never work well in a country with lot of poor people.
Wahaha,
Communism means famine, with millions of deaths. Between 30 and 60 million people died in 1959-61 in the Mao-made famine, when farmers had to melt their tools in order to produce steel, which turned out to be worthless. Stalin deliberately starved millions of kulaks. North Korea has chronic recurring famines.
These are not lot the famines of ancient times which were caused by crop failure. These famines are the result of a system that refuses to recognize human individuality, and therefore can’t accept the value of human beings.
George,
Lenin proclaimed that capitalism was destiny to be replaced by socialism and communism, and his theory was “well proved” in economic recession in early 1930s.
I think Lenin made a stupid assumption that capitalist government would never evolve to adapt the new situations and stayed what it was in 1900.
I never thought there would be so many Leninists in West.
I was asked whether it’s legal for government officials in the United States to break the law, and whether it’s possible for them to do so. I tried my best to answer as accurately as possible.
And, naturally, you told them all about Iran-Contra and said, yes, of course it’s possible for government officials in the United States to break the law.
John Hartland,
I told them about Nixon and Watergate.
Wahaha,
Lenin was echoing Marx, who said that all societies start out with primitive communism. This would be perfect except for the fact that there is no technology. Then comes feudalism. It is replaced by capitalism, during which time all of science and technology are discovered. Then comes socialism, followed by the final stage of communism.
Marx was wrong, as he always was. He was expressing a religious point of view: the Garden of Eden followed by sin followed by redemption followed by the end of the world when heaven on earth would come and all people would agree about everything.
Marx was an atheist who had a magical theory that his followers believe with perfect faith. It is extremely strange that there are so many Marxists on earth. It is particularly strange because people become Marxists because of pity for the poor and then have no pity for those who starve, who are imprisoned for free thinking, and who are denounced by their children.
Now that Christians and Jews no longer believe in executing witches, there remain only two systems of belief that are accepted with blind faith: Marxism and Islam.
George,
1) Marx was completely wrong.
2) China has changed. What I was trying to tell you is that you believe CCP is still as it was during Mao’s period, like Lenin’s way of thinking and reasoning.
Things change, we are living in 21st century now, so dont try to prove your point by bringing up something that happend 40 or 50 years ago. Lot of chinese dont even consider “Your communist party ….” as bashing but as a laughable ignorance of China.
Wahaha,
We are indeed living in the 21st century, and China will become democratic.
George,
China will become more democratic FOR SURE, but very unlikely become kind of democracy you love. Maybe you already know the following intepretation :
democracy in the west to a fixed-menu restaurant where customers can select the identity of their chef, but have no say in what dishes he chooses to cook for them. Chinese democracy, on the other hand, always involves the same chef—the Communist party—but the policy dishes which are served up can be chosen “à la carte.”
Remember, democracy won the cold war not because its idea of freedom, it was the economic power in democratic countries that won the war. If democracy fails to deliver economically, people will abandon it, like in Russia.
The biggest challenge to democracy is not China or Russia, the biggest challenge will happen in US in about 20 to 30 years, when United states will have 40 to 60 million more POOR people, unfortunately at same time, US infrastructure will need trillions of dollars to expand and repair. With the higher and higher oil price, the living standard of Americans will be inevitably lower. This will put a big test on your political system. If your presidents, congressmen, senators change like revolving doors BECAUSE OF YOU VOTING SYSTEM, then US government will not be able to commit to long term plan of economic recovery.
The biggest enemy to democracy is proverty, remember that.
Poor people in America are admitted to the emergency room. They aren’t in China.
Poor people in America, up to a point, get unemployment insurance. They don’t in China.
I remember peasant homes in China. The door faced south, so that the north wind wouldn’t enter the house. There was no running water. Whatever heat there was came from a charcoal stove in the middle of the room, emitting smoke and soot. Consequently, all the walls were black.
China wasn’t meant to be poor. Its climate is temperate. Its citizens are ambitious. The economy is booming now that Marxist capitalism has arrived. Its poor, however, are totally abandoned. Despite the new skyscrapers in Pudong, poor people from Fujian still sneak into the United States so that they can work as illegal immigrants.
George,
For god sake, I wasnt comparing China’s GDP to US’ GDP. China’s economy is still far far behind US’s.
What I am saying is that if US fails to get over the bump, people in the world will lose interest in democracy.
You cant deny the existence of the huge problem in 2035 in US. Let us say US government give those poor average $5000 a year, 40 million x $5000 = 200 billion dollar a year, that is not even including medical fees and education fees. How many cities in USA can sustain that expense ? That is a huge test for your political system, people all over the world will see how your democratic system solve this problem.
I am not saying that American economy will collapse, but if it fails to improve people’s living, then authoritarian governments will say “Look, democracy is not perfect.” That is already enough to make people think twice before demanding change of political system.
Wahaha,
America’s GDP is high because of democracy. Compare the US with the equally endowed countries of Latin America. China’s GDP is low because it never had democracy, and most of all, because Chairman Mao was a good Marxist and closed the schools (in order to create equality) and created famine, as well as terrifying the population by making parents fear their children would denounce them, as often happened.
Wealth is the result of thinking. The more a society encourages thinking, the richer it is. Taiwan has no natural resources, but as soon as it became democratic, it became rich. Japan is overcrowded and has few natural resources, but it is rich because it is democratic.
Thinking leads to understanding, which makes people humane. Democracies are always kinder to the poor than other countries. The most repressive of all communist regimes, North Korea, is the least kind and the poorest. As democracy grows in South Korea, so does wealth.
Japan was bascially a one-party system until 1990.
Taiwan was bascially a one-party system until 1990.
South Korea was basically a one-party system until 1988.
Encouraging thinking is good thing, but you cant prevent thinking like an evil or a criminal; just like democracy, when you give the right to people who deserve, you also give the right to evils and criminals.
GDP is result of democracy ? sorry, the experiments in last 15 years proved the opposite.
There is nothing wrong if one party always wins. There is something very wrong if one party is legal and all the others are forbidden.
There has never been an experiment showing that wealth is not linked to democracy. Morality pays. Immorality makes everything bad. Freedom is moral. Repression is evil. Mao, because of Marx, made Chinese people bad by making children report their parents. Poverty followed as the night the day.
China is less immoral now that it has Marxist capitalism. Bit only democracy is good. Only democracy encourages people to be kind. Only democracy leads to wealth, science, and creativity.
Wahahan,
why do you hate freedom so much? Jochnowitz has trounced your every utterance. You cant make excuses for a totalitarian regime that treats its citizens worse than the duly elected American government treats animals. Give it up, loser. Head South.
George,
Freedom is moral, but it is nolonger moral if it offends the interests of public which is well tolerated under west democracy, that is its dark side, YOU CANT DENY THAT !!!
In a poor or developing country, that puts a huge rock on the road and block the way to prosperity.
Steve,
I dont hate freedom, I dont hate democracy.
But the utopia of democracy is wrong, cuz under west democracy, there is no limit.
For example, greediness is a driving force for economy. Communism tried to completely destory that, which led the collapse of economy; how west democracy treats greediness ? sky is the limit, which has seriously weakened US economy.
In other word, communism went too far to one direction; West democracy went too far to the opposite direction. Both of them are destined to fail.
george:
“There has never been an experiment showing that wealth is not linked to democracy. ”
indian is the biggest democracy on this planet. you tell me how well it is.
“The door faced south, so that the north wind wouldn’t enter the house”
above the north wind, there is another reason that why door has to face south.
i don’t think poverty is the sole property to china or any other non-democratic nations. yes, US do admit patients into emergency room, then why does california stop it for those emergent illegal mexicans?; yes, people get some pocket money for losing jobs, but those money are paid by those people when they are on the payroll, right?
a friend of mine lives in a nice town in california and when i visited him and passed the exit sign to a neighboring city, he was so scared that he yelled to me over the phone to ask me to turn back to highway. later he told me that his town can be called the heaven – west town where many world known institutes and companies have headquarters there, while the neighboring will be hell – east town where low income families endure daily gun battle and crimes. the image is shocking: the only line to divide them is a highway! i don’t think his town is alone and we can find similar cases across the continents.
george, please enlighten me: why can not democracy solve this simple issue – poverty?
US has 50 states and 48 of them are on the continent. the richest states are mostly along the coastal line. i don’t think democracy plays any roles on the poverty in some inner land states.
US is the most powerful and richest nation in the human history, yet poverty exists in our every day’s life.
china is governed by politicians who, like their counterparts in all western countries, demonstrate a complete lack of moral, political, social…(the list is endless)…integrity.
but in one area, those snaggle toothed little characters excell. they do as they please in a way reknowned for it’s aggressive simplicity. they rule with a steel rod. and they laugh in the face of all bleatings from abroad. the sad opposition to their beaming smirks hiding dark wiles means absolutely nothing to them. to them it is nothing more than a sinister joke at the expense of the rest of this politically gutless world.
it doesn’t matter what is said. well meaning words of condemnation sluice of the duck’s back into a void devoid of reason, common sense or any other positive attribute with which only a small percentage of mankind have been cursed.
the farce handed to them on a plate by the well intentioned olympic commitee merely serves to reinforce the misery to which the population of this horribly misguided country are subjected every single moment of their pathetic lives.
and the western world will scurry, sheeplike, to applaud and justify.
i don’t know which is sadder…enforced slavery at the hands of bad chinese men, or duped freedom in the hands of bad western politicians. either way, manipulation and control serve to keep the downtrodden down and the rest of us ‘happy’.
and those selfish, vainglorious athletes, superb specimens of physical prowess but demonstrative of all that prevails in todays shallow mtv world, will go and perform for themselves. not for them the politics. not for them anything more unpleasant than a slap on the back and a medal on their chest. and the money will pour in afterwards. 4 years of training their wonderful bodies to a peak of perfection accompanied by 4 years of prostituting their minds. a political career awaits them.